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Editor's note: Nikki Giovanni is a poet, writer, and a professor at Virginia Tech. Her latest work is "Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid." Here, she remembers her dear friend, writer and activist Maya Angelou, who died Wednesday at age 86.

Our only disagreements were about food.

She was a great cook, and I think of myself as a good one. We were arguing about rack of lamb, one of my specialties. My recipe comes from the late, great country cook Edna Lewis. I went home after my visit and decided I should not just talk the talk but also walk the walk.

I called my good friend Joanne Gabbin from Furious Flower Poetry Center to have her come with me to Doc's to cook. Jo is a great cook, too. We got on Doc's calendar, packed all our ingredients and spices and boogied on down.
Doc sat at the head of the table, where she could see everything going on in the kitchen. She inspected the lamb, checked the veggies, tasted everything and praised Joanne.

I think she loved me a little bit because she, like my only living aunt, always felt free to make minor corrections. "I think the lamb is a bit overdone," she offered.

"Well Edna Lewis is in heaven, and I checked with her before I put this on the table," I responded.
We both laughed. I know if the lamb was not done properly, she would have eaten it and not said a word.